[mythtv-users] New user - low level hardware and software seem to work, but...

[Brad DerManouelian]

On Jan 11, 2009, at 6:29 PM, A. F. Cano wrote:

> On Sun, Jan 11, 2009 at 05:13:52PM -0800, Brad DerManouelian wrote:
>> On Jan 11, 2009, at 5:00 PM, A. F. Cano wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>
>> <snipped a bunch of stuff I'm not going to answer>
>>
>>> I propose a startup test: if mythtv-setup, mythtv or any other
>>> mythtv program
>>> for that matter is started from a console the current way is fine,
>>> but if it
>>> is started from an xterm/kterm/konsole/etc... or from a menu in kde/
>>> gnome/X
>>> it should start in a small window (not take over the whole screen).
>>
>> bderman at mythtv:~$ mythtv-setup --help
>
> Well, yes, that's how I found out about the geometry option.
>
>> Valid options are:
>> -display X-server              Create GUI on X-server, not localhost
>> -geometry or --geometry WxH    Override window size settings
>> -geometry WxH+X+Y              Override window size and position
>>
>> Why guess at what "small window" is appropriate when you can just  
>> pass
>> it the exact size you want?
>
> My point was that, as a newbie, it was confusing to have the whole  
> screen
> taken over and to have no apparent way to resize the window (no  
> borders) or
> any way to use any other part of the window system.  What you  
> propose is
> fine, assuming you know beforehand that you must pass the geometry  
> parameters
> in order not to lose the whole desktop.  Plus, no other X/kde/gnome  
> program
> that I've used takes over the screen without warning.  Of course, it  
> might
> help to know that I'm not installing mythtv on a dedicated HTPC,  
> it's on
> a laptop that I use for other things, so keeping the desktop  
> available is
> valuable.  Yes, I know I can create a script that calls mythtv-setup  
> with
> the proper geometry options.  As to what a "small" window is, all  
> other
> programs I use start with some default size (usually sufficient for  
> what they
> need to display) and location, and if they're desktop-friendly, they  
> can
> also have those parameters saved and receive start/restore and end  
> messages
> from the desktop, but that might be beyond the scope of mythtv.   
> Mplayer
> for instance uses the f key to toggle between full-screen and  
> regular-size
> window that suits the resolution of what's displayed.  But of  
> course, I've
> just barely started using mythtv, so maybe I'm being naive.  I only  
> offer
> these suggestions so that others unfamiliar with the peculiarities  
> of this
> program might have an easier time in the future.

You'll soon find that features that help newbies but not of much use  
to developers don't make it into the code because developers, not  
newbies write the code. I can give you the two answers that everyone  
seems to hate: a) submit a patch or b) write as feature request and  
hope that one day someone has nothing better to work on.

MythTV does run in a windowed mode, but that is not the default since  
most people want to run in full screen and it makes most sense for the  
most people to default to full screen. However, you will find that the  
window is not resizable and to that I say, "patches to add this  
feature are welcome". No one has taken the effort to make that happen  
because of the minority who would benefit from this feature, none have  
provided code to do so. I'm not judging or suggesting you get to work  
on providing things that you aren't happy with. Just stating the fact.  
No one has cared enough to add the feature, so it's not there and  
clearly for the majority of users, it's working just fine without it.  
Otherwise, someone would have gotten frustrated enough without it to  
write it.

-Brad